Two contestants at the Miss Universe Canada competition have issued apologies after accusations of cultural appropriation. <\/p>\n
One contestant, Karisa Haverkamp, wore a feather headdress traditionally worn by Indigenous leaders in North America as she walked the runway. <\/p>\n
Her face was also marked with a painted red handprint, a symbol used to show solidarity with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A second contestant, Jasleen Kaily, labelled her outfit \u2018Arctic Beauty \u2019, which featured a short fur dress and boots while her hair was in twin braids. <\/p>\n
They were among 35 other contestants walking in the costume round at the Ontario competition, which is designed to showcase Canada\u2019s heritage. <\/p>\n
Both models walked the runway wearing outfits heavily inspired by Indigenous cultures, without being Indigenous themselves. <\/p>\n
In an Instagram post, Ms Haverkamp apologised for the offence her outfit attracted. <\/p>\n
\u201cI acknowledge and recognise that my outfit for the national costume caused hurt and offence to people in the indigenous community,\u201d Haverkamp wrote in an Instagram post. \u201cI appreciate what I have learned from this experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Ms Kailey issued her own apology too. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy intention was never to disrespect or misrepresent Indigenous culture,\u201d she wrote.\u2019<\/p>\n
The pageant has also issued a statement apologising: \u201cIf any costume caused offence, hurt, or misunderstanding, please know that it was never our intention.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201c\u200bThe national costume segment is intended to celebrate creativity, heritage, and identity. However, we recognise that every design requires deep care, respect, and continuous evaluation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Going forward, the organisation will supply contestants with a \u201ccomprehensive costume guide\u201d aimed at establishing \u201cclear guidelines and standards for all future pageant cycles to ensure every presentation is thoughtful and respectful\u201d. <\/p>\n
The models have copped backlash from all angles, including from a former winner. <\/p>\n
Ashley Callingbull, who was crowned as the first Indigenous winner in 2024, addressed the issue during coverage of a separate part of the pageant, saying: \u201cIt\u2019s 2026. We should know better.\u201d \u2018<\/p>\n
Ms Callingbull hadn\u2019t been present during the costumes runway but had seen video footage. <\/p>\n
In an interview with local media, Ms Callingbull expanded on her opinion, where she admitted \u201cmy jaw just dropped on the floor\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis cannot be real. I just couldn\u2019t get over that this was happening. Who allowed this on stage? Who approved this?\u201d she told CBC Indigenous.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything traditional or sacred should not be allowed. I was very, very upset.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ms Callingbull has now been invited by the competition to be their official liaison for the costume competition. <\/p>\n
A handful of people on social media defended the models; however, the overall sentiment was a strong call for greater awareness. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust skip the whole pageant. What are we still doing these things for?\u201d one user wrote. <\/p>\n
Another said: \u201cThe biggest issue is the headdress…. It is considered extremely offensive to wear one if you haven\u2019t earned it.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe if they hadn\u2019t worn the sexy version of the costumes it would have gone over better,\u201d a third added. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two contestants at the Miss Universe Canada competition have issued apologies after accusations of cultural appropriation. One contestant,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[53415,53456,44062,336,53399,53408,53393,53373,53390,53433,53444,53407,53463,53466,53428,53374,53421,53405,53414,53376,53423,53462,53461,53425,53389,53413,53458,52717,53422,53410,53429,17,12855,53406,53446,53379,53388,9710,53451,53424,52917,53437,53459,53394,53426,53452,53378,53438,53386,53430,53375,3402,53404,11074,30523,33936,53395,53372,53398,53454,53387,53455,29322,53381,53409,53391,53450,53383,53431,4408,52840,53384,53460,53434,53445,53447,53396,53453,3780,53435,1194,28023,53417,53411,53436,53416,53427,53442,53465,53401,53392,53402,53377,53468,53420,53380,53443,44541,53440,53457,53400,53382,53412,53439,53467,53441,53449,53448,53418,53419,53385,53432,53397,53464,53403,11956],"class_list":["post-166271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-arctic-beauty","tag-s-heritage","tag-44062","tag-336","tag-35-other-contestants","tag-a-comprehensive-costume-guide","tag-a-feather-headdress","tag-a-former-winner","tag-a-handful","tag-a-painted-red-handprint","tag-a-second-contestant","tag-a-separate-part","tag-a-short-fur-dress","tag-a-statement","tag-a-strong-call","tag-a-symbol","tag-a-third","tag-accusations","tag-all-angles","tag-all-future-pageant-cycles","tag-an-instagram-post","tag-an-international-beauty-contest","tag-an-interview","tag-and-identity","tag-any-costume","tag-anything-traditional","tag-apologies","tag-ashley-callingbull","tag-backlash","tag-boots","tag-both-models","tag-canada","tag-cbc-indigenous","tag-clear-guidelines-and-standards","tag-contestants","tag-continuous-evaluation","tag-costume","tag-costumes","tag-coverage","tag-creativity","tag-cultural-appropriation","tag-deep-care","tag-every-design","tag-every-presentation","tag-greater-awareness","tag-haverkamp","tag-her-face","tag-her-hair","tag-her-opinion","tag-her-outfit","tag-her-own-apology","tag-heritage","tag-hurt-and-offence","tag-indigenous-culture","tag-indigenous-cultures","tag-indigenous-leaders","tag-jasleen-kaily","tag-jaw","tag-karisa-haverkamp","tag-local-media","tag-miss-universe-canada-models","tag-mmiw","tag-movement","tag-ms-callingbull","tag-ms-haverkamp","tag-ms-kailey","tag-my-intention","tag-my-jaw","tag-my-outfit","tag-north-america","tag-offence","tag-one-contestant","tag-one-sensitive-reason","tag-one-user","tag-our-intention","tag-outfits","tag-outrage","tag-pageant","tag-people","tag-respect","tag-social-media","tag-solidarity","tag-stage","tag-the-biggest-issue","tag-the-competition","tag-the-costume-competition","tag-the-costume-round","tag-the-costumes","tag-the-costumes-runway","tag-the-first-indigenous-winner","tag-the-floor","tag-the-headdress","tag-the-indigenous-community","tag-the-internet","tag-the-issue","tag-the-matter","tag-the-miss-universe-canada-competition","tag-the-models","tag-the-national-costume","tag-the-national-costume-segment","tag-the-offence","tag-the-ontario-competition","tag-the-organisation","tag-the-overall-sentiment","tag-the-pageant","tag-the-runway","tag-the-sexy-version","tag-the-whole-pageant","tag-their-choice","tag-their-official-liaison","tag-these-things","tag-this-experience","tag-twin-braids","tag-two-contestants","tag-two-models","tag-video-footage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}